Nutritional Therapy is the application of nutrition science in the promotion of health, peak performance and individual care. Registered Nutritional Therapy Practitioners use a wide range of tools to assess and identify potential nutritional imbalances and understand how these may contribute to an individual’s symptoms and health concerns. This approach allows us to work with individuals to address nutritional balance and help support the body towards maintaining health. Nutritional Therapy is recognised as a complementary medicine and is relevant for individuals with chronic conditions, as well as those looking for support to enhance their health and wellbeing.
Practitioners consider each individual to be unique and recommend personalised nutrition and lifestyle programmes rather than a ‘one size fits all’ approach. Practitioners never recommend nutritional therapy as a replacement for medical advice and will always refer any client with ‘red flag’ signs or symptoms to their medical professional. We will also frequently work alongside a medical professional and will communicate with other healthcare professionals involved in the client’s care to explain any nutritional therapy programme that has been provided.
Registered Nutritional Therapy Practitioners are uniquely trained to understand how nutrients, other foods and lifestyle factors influence the function of the body by considering biochemical individuality in a patient centred manner.
What to expect in a nutritional therapy consultation?
Your first consultation will last 60-75 minutes. You will already have completed a detailed health questionnaire and food diary before your session. During the session, we’ll discuss your health goals and concerns, your medical history, family history, lifestyle, current diet and exercise levels. There’s no judgement and everything shared is in confidence. From this I will evaluate your individual needs and use the extensive evidence base for nutritional science to develop a personalised, safe and effective nutrition and lifestyle programme.
Nutritional therapy sessions are sold as packages that are between 6 weeks and 6 months duration. Single sessions are rarely enough to make the required changes. A programme of sessions is helpful to provide the coaching and support to ensure that recommendations are implemented at a pace that suits the individual.
Choosing a practitioner
There is a lot of general or even incorrect advice available on social media and the internet. It is therefore important to choose a qualified nutritional therapist who has undertaken all the necessary training to understand the theory and practice of nutritional therapy.
By choosing a nutritional therapist registered with the CNHC you can be confident that they are properly trained, qualified and insured.
By choosing a nutritional therapist who is a member of BANT you can be confident that they follow the strict CNHC Code of Conduct, Performance and Ethics and the BANT Professional Practice Handbook, have professional indemnity insurance for clinical practice and also meet the required membership entry criteria.